As Utah State University’s
College of Engineering celebrates Engineering Week, which began Sunday and will
end on Saturday, some of the college’s students won’t be participating.
That’s because the
recognized rigors of their field of study are aggravated by the
responsibilities they have to their fraternities.
Brandon Teoh, an engineering
student and member of Sigma Phi Epsilon, said finding the balance between
grades and fraternity responsibilities can be difficult.
“It’s been a little hectic
being a part of Sig Ep and trying to be successful in school,” said Teoh, whose
fraternity holds its members to specific academic and service-related
standards. “Last semester my grades took a hit because I spent more time with
Sig Ep rather than school. Now I’m getting back into school.”
Teoh had previously cut back
his involvement within the engineering department in favor of the fraternity.
“I was part of the American
Society of Mechanical Engineers,” Teoh said, “but I didn’t really get to
participate because the fraternity took a lot of my time.”
Sig Ep requires its members
to maintain a 3.0 grade point average to remain in good standing, while USU’s
minimum GPA for engineering students is 2.8.
And while grade points might
amount to an arbitrary standard, Teoh has found that the fraternity has helped
him develop individual objectives as well.
“I have my own desire to get
better grades,” Teoh said. “But Sig Ep definitely does help – gives me a little
more pressure. I can’t say the same for other fraternities, but Sig Ep pushes
me to become a better person with school.”
Teoh is currently working on
bringing his grades back up, in order to restore good standing with the
fraternity.
Teoh’s fraternity brother,
Dusty Henson, hasn’t had any such issues with grades — a fact he attributes in
large part to the standards expected by the group.
According to Henson,
engineering students at USU spend a lot of time on homework, which doesn’t
allow for time to spend on many other activities.
“I’m too busy,” Henson said.
“Especially because of where I’m at in my schooling, I have so much homework.”
In addition to academic
expectations, USU’s fraternities and sororities have set service requirements.
For Sigma Phi Epsilon, the standard is 30 hours per semester.
“At times it can be hard,”
Henson said. “But I’ve always been a self-motivated person, and I always get
things finished. At the same time, being in Sig Ep makes me work harder.”
Teoh said he doesn’t have
time to be involved with engineering clubs, but he still gets a real-world
experience.
“In my classes I’m getting a
lot of exposure,” Teoh said. “Right now I’m working with a company to build
something to help kids with disabilities. It’s a cool to experience what the
real engineering world is like.”
Tucker Smith, the College of
Engineering senator, encourages engineering students to not limit themselves to
program-related clubs.
“The big issue in my mind is
that students aren’t getting involved with anything because they are too busy
with school work,” Smith said. “I think involvement is important. It helps
round out our engineers instead of just being nerds.”
Cristina Johnson, Morgan Pratt, Matthew Thomas,
Kylee Hopkin and Cailey Chaney contributed to this report.
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